Gissa job,,,,,day two.

First may I thank publicly all those who have posted here and sent messages of support and good wishes to me, some of whom I profoundly disagree with politically but this proves that what I have always said is true, any differences should be left in the Council Chamber.

To Anon 22.46 on my previous post I would say this, first I resent your implication that I am a scrounger ‘leading the charge’ its quite simple really so I will try and explain in simple words so even you can understand how I see it. I pay car insurance so if I have an accident I can claim from my insurance, I pay National Insurance so that if I become sick or unemployed I can claim from that insurance. Having paid my 40+ years premiums I feel I have the absolute right to claim on that particular insurance policy.
No doubt you are the kind of person who thinks that the greedy, unscrupulous, plain dishonest bankers who got us in this mess in the first place are jolly good chaps. You really should abide by one of your undoubted hero’s words, ‘ we make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give’ Winston Churchill.
So get a life and ask yourself when did you last give something back to your community ?

Anyway I digress,,

Day Two, ‘The Interview’
I duly arrived at the appointed time and place, hair combed, shoes polished and with all the information I had been asked to bring with me. First hitch was the Northern Person I spoke to in Derby had told me the wrong time but to be fair they were very helpful and understanding at the Job centre and I got the feeling that was not a particularly unusual event, so I was asked to wait a while and someone would see me soon.
Hitch number two, the Northern Person I spoke to in Derby had filled in the wrong form and sent it electronically to Ramsgate so I had to repeat the process again using the correct form, it seems there are three ways to claim JSA, Income based, Contribution based or Pension Credit based. It seems that Northern Person I spoke to in Derby had assumed that because I am over 60 I would be claiming Pension Credit. I had mulled over the various options beforehand and had opted for a Contribution based claim, again much credit must go to the Advisor I spoke to who explained the various options and which one would be best for me. As it turned out I had made the right choice and she talked me through the form.
Next was an Interview with a ‘Back to work Advisor’, he asked me what sort of work was I looking for, I explained that I was not bothered as long as it was something I felt I could do and felt comfortable with. Apparently that is not good enough, you have to be more specific, so I said I would like to become a Coronation Programme Seller or maybe a Treacle Bender, I think he realised at this point that I was not taking this quite as seriously as I should. He then asked what skills I had, now I have many skills not many of which would be good qualifications for a prospective Employer, argumentative, obstinate, obdurate, a good talker, champion of the underdog etc, etc, End of discussion really.
So we then went on to the possibility of retraining, fine I said, whats on offer? Well it seems that there are several things you can retrain for some of which are provided free but anything meaningful you have to pay for. At this point I thought it only fair to point out to him that I will be 65 this year and would be looking forward to a well earned rest, although I have tried retirement before, I retired from Ambulance Service at 60 and lasted 9 weeks before I got bored and took the job I got made redundant from.
Although I am used to folks getting my age wrong due mainly to my youthful good looks I would have thought that this Advisor would have looked at my age before setting off on this quest to get me back to work.
Anyway as the regulations require I have to prove I am looking for work I have duly sent off some emails to various companies and wait to see if I even get a response as I understand that the norm is that you only get about 1 in 10 responses from contacts with prospective Employers.

I would have posted yesterday but I had writers cramp from filling in various forms, although I am lucky that I don’t have a mortgage my house is bought and paid for ( take note Anon 22.46 ) these are from Insurers who provide Payment Protection Insurance in case of sickness, unemployment etc and you are unable to pay your credit card bills, hp payments etc, all these forms seem to be about 15 pages long and ask the most irrelevant questions and demand the most outrageous evidence that my previous employer has to provide, some of this may take weeks to obtain due to the processes he has to follow but in the meantime despite the fact I am unemployed I still have to make the payments.

As a result of this I now have my rant for another day, it seems that these insurance payments may be classed as ‘income’ and might affect any JSA I am entitled to.

Although I am now in the same boat as a rapidly rising number of people some folks reading this may get the impression that I am treating this a bit light heartedly, nothing could be further from the truth, its not the end of the world ( that possibility has gone now Bush has left the White House ) but I am not going to descend to the depths of despair and will continue to look on the bright side of life,,,,,,,,

Cue Monty Python,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,